Why Do Dogs Lick Their Wounds?

It is said that dogs lick their wounds because their saliva contain enzymes that can heal it.

This is only half true. For one, the healing enzymes in a dog's saliva is very small that the effect of it is minimal when it comes to cleaning and soothing the wound. However, it is believed that licking their wounds is the only way they are able to treat themselves reason why they do this.

Unfortunately, wound licking can even worsen the dog's wound-even turning it septic.

I agree, if licking is excessive, it can have a negative effect on healing.

Have you ever had a dog who excessively licked their wounds? My Shih Tzu kept on licking his wound on the genital area that it turned septic. We eventually had to bring him to the vet because he had severe matting on his little boy area (he stayed with someone else so I was surprised to see this) and it had pus due to his excessive licking.

We used Neosporin (antibiotic ointment) instead of Betadine and gave him Amoxicillin to help fight the infection.